Chapter 11
Shae staredat the empty doorway, too shocked to move at Dagan’s outburst. For the first time since she’d met him, she’d seen stark fear on his face. Forher?
Was he afraid that if he fed from her, he wouldn’t be able to stop, and would drink her dry like a demoniiwould?
Harvey had explained about demons who lost their dark souls after stealing a human spirit—and about their unending blood-thirst. But Dagan wasn’t like a demonii…washe?
However, it was the pain she’d sensed in him that had her moving. Hurriedly, she pulled on her underwear, sprinted back to her room for her boots, dragged them on, then took off after him. She searched the living room and kitchen, but he wasn’t there. She grabbed her outdoor jacket from the chair, hauled it on, and darted outside. Both courtyards were empty,too.
That left only oneplace.
With the moon her only source of light, she cut around the side, past the outbuilding, and ran up the steep, narrow steps. Panting hard, like she’d climbed a million of them, she finally reached the top and stumbled to a halt. The chilly winds echoed eerily around her, tugging at her clothes andhair.
Dagan stood at the edge of the plateau, gazing down into the gorge like a lonely statue of some long-forgotten god, a burning cigar in his hand. The silvery moon highlighted his hard, handsome features, the wind whipping at his unboundhair.
Shae darted across to him. “Dagan, talk to me. You can’t say things like that and then just walk away. Do you think you’ll kill me if you feed from me? Is thatit?”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why—howI became a Guardian of this realm?” he asked instead, appearing a little calmer, his fangs no longerevident.
She frowned at the change in conversation and grabbed onto her wind-tossed mane. “I assumed it was a job you appliedfor.”
At his dark bark of laughter, she eyed him cautiously. “Thenhow?”
Killing his smoke, he tossed the stub away and removed a narrow black band from his wrist. Then, shocking her speechless, he gathered her tangled hair, and with a few twists, tied it back. “Because I, along with the other Guardians, was banished from the pantheons. We had nowhere else to go once we escaped imprisonment inTartarus—”
“What?” She pulled back, shocked. “Why?”
His bleak gaze shifted away to stare into the distance again. “We failed in our duty as protectors to keep the Goddess of Life safe. During a bloody battle, the vilest evil out there snatched her. She was never seenagain.”
Dear sweet Jesus. No wonder he was so driven to keep her hidden and safe. “Whathappened?”
His tone devoid of emotions, he told her about the attacks on the temple, then about the last protector arriving. “Unaware that it was Blaéz, a fight started. Hordes of demons appeared—demons shouldn’t be able to enter the Realm of the Gods. While the battle took place, a narcissistic Fallen bastard used the distraction and abductedher.”
“Fallen?”
“Lucifer.” A tic worked his jaw. Shae knew Lucifer was one of the most beautiful and cunning of angels. “As punishment, we were judged and found guilty of blatant misconduct for allowing the denizens of the Dark Realm access to the sacred temple, which then caused the slaughter of Inara’s handmaidens. Our powers and godhood were stripped, and we were imprisoned in Tartarus. Except, I wasn’t with the others. I was in a differentsector…”
As if unable to stay still, he paced several feet away, then back again, stopping to stare out at the dark horizon again. Silencelengthened.
“What happened?” she askedsoftly.
“When I came to, I found myself in a desert wasteland, surrounded by impossible heat but no sun. No night or day. No shelter, food, or water. And nodeath…”
At the dead look creeping over his chiseled features, uneasiness stirred. “Dagan?”
He blinked as if coming to himself. “Days—weeks passed, and my thirst and hunger grew. I must have fainted…” He told her the gruesome tale about waking up to huge, grisly, vulture-like birds tearing at his flesh. “I managed to grab one, but so badly weakened and unable to kill it, I bit its neck. Blood slid down my throat. I spat it out at first, but it was the only source of liquid I had…and I was so thirsty…” He rubbed a hand over his face. “It was the beginning, the catalyst to mychange.”
“Are you saying drinking from those birds made you…this way?” She stopped short of using the wordvampire. She’d teased him the day at the penthouse. But dear God, this was so muchworse.
A terse nod. “They weren’t ordinary birds. They were vampiric ones that belonged to the dark goddess, Hel. Those avians were used to punish those sentenced to Reaper’s Hell—it’s what the demons call the place, I later found out. Five centuries of feeding off them would do that. When Michael finally freed us, it was too late. Blood is all I can handle as a food source, all that sustainsme.”
She rubbed her jacket-clad arms at the shivers wrackingher.
He glanced at her. “You’re cold. Let’s get out ofhere.”
She shook her head, her mind reeling from what he’d revealed. “I’m okay. Why do you think you’d kill me ifyou—”
“Later. You need to get warm.” A hand on her back, he ushered her carefully down the shadowy granite steps to themonastery.
